The last Ken Loach film I saw was "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" which was a disappointingly simplistic historical epic. He's best when he drops the partisan politics and focuses on the lives of ordinary, flawed people trying to live their lives in harsh working class environments, and he's back to that here, in this tale of a Manchester postman whose life and family are in bad disrepair. The Loach film "Looking for Eric" reminded me most of is "Raining Stones": both seem comparatively light for quite a while, gritty and realistic (and wonderfully foul-mouthed) but also very funny, almost in a "Full Monty" mode. And then a huge shock that we should have been expecting suddenly raises the stakes and our emotional involvement. "Eric" differs from "Stones" in finding a more upbeat finale, by way of a climactic confrontation that must be seen to be believed. Throughout, the football fan camaraderie provides Loach with an infectious and fun way to make his point about friendship and community. Best of all is the rapport between the two Erics, protagonist Eric Bishop and real life Man U. footballer Eric Carmona, who appears as himself. His role in the plot is much the same as Humphrey Bogart's in Woody Allen's "Play It Again, Sam", but the context here raises the gimmick to something far more urgent and finally moving. Highly recommended.
Review of Looking for Eric
